I love running. I love it. Sometimes I think about all these roads. We have all these roads, and I think they exist for us to run on them.

What’s your typical running schedule?

It depends. Sometimes I wake up and I’m like, I feel like running right now. Other times I go at night. It depends on how I feel that day.

Night runs?

I love night runs. It’s a sense of freedom. I run fast, as if someone’s chasing me or a hand is reaching out of the ground to grab my ankles. My mom always gets mad at me because she doesn’t like when I run at night. There’s this trail that I take in L.A. through UCLA, and I’m like, well, if anything ever happened, they’d have to catch me first! So I’ve been pretty safe.

So you’re fast, then?

On my team, I’m known for being pretty quick. I guess that’s one of my talents. When I run by myself, I’m not going to be sprinting like I do in soccer. But I like to keep a nice pace for sure.

Do you time yourself?

No. Actually, I’ve never timed myself. I’ve never run a 5-K or 10-K race. I just run. It makes me feel free. I don’t worry about anything. I recently ran in Vegas. I just started running and then I got lost and I didn’t know how to get back. I had to go to the gas station and ask where I was because I just ran and ran and ran. People always talk about how you run to get lost. I actually got lost. It was pretty funny.

Would you ever consider entering a road race?

After soccer I think I definitely want to do a marathon. A marathon, to me, is like a competition. For me, right now, running is just for fun. I don’t even count it as training when I go out and run by myself. When we’re training, we have soccer-specific running drills. When I just get out of the house and run, that’s for me.

What kind of running do you do as part of your training?

In practice we do ladder sprints: five yards, then 10, 15, 20, 25. And we do treadmill intervals, 45 seconds on and 15 off. I don’t like the treadmill!

You’ve also tweeted about doing the Beep Test. Can you explain it for those who aren’t familiar?

You run a certain amount of meters or yards and then it’ll beep when you’re supposed to get there. Then you run back to the line and it’ll beep again. You see how long you can go. Before the Olympics I felt like we were doing them every camp just to make sure we were staying fit.

Did running help you train for the Olympics and ultimately win the gold medal?
Yeah. Running was my thing. I definitely do think it helps.

Which is easier: running or scoring a goal?

(Laughs.) I’d definitely have to go with “running is easier” because you can do it whenever. Scoring a goal is a little tougher.

You played for the Boston Breakers last season at the time of the Boston Marathon bombings. Did those events affect your team in any way?

It was a very emotional season for us in Boston. To see the city come back together was pretty amazing. It was like a family. The day after the marathon, we were supposed to leave. We were supposed to go to Kansas for a game. We drove to the airport and we decided that it wasn’t right for us to leave Boston.

How long have you been a runner?

Since I was 4, wherever I was, I ran. If my mom was grocery shopping, I ran in the lanes. My mom was like, “This kid is crazy. I need to put her in every sport possible because she’s so rambunctious.” I ran cross-country in elementary school and never lost a race. That was how it was for three or four years. I always came in first and this one girl always came in second and we had a girl that always came in third. I have so many blue ribbons from elementary school.

Have you always been competitive?

Yes, I would say so. I think I was born with a competitive nature. I was having this conversation with somebody recently and we were talking about how for kids now, “playing” means your iPhone or Xbox. I always had a soccer ball, constantly banging it against the couch. My mom never said a word. I thank her for that. Because who knows—if she made me stop would I love it as much as I do? I don’t know. I really think that played a big part in my life. She wanted me to do something I loved and it started from a very young age.

Where do you like to run?

The running trail behind UCLA, which is actually Sunset Boulevard. I get out of my apartment, I run up to Sunset and I run the trail. I have no idea what the distance is. I literally run all around UCLA. It’s really beautiful. I went to school in L.A. for four years and I’ve been living there for the past two.

As a professional soccer player, you travel quite a bit. Where’s the best place you’ve ever run?

My favorite run was a long one I’d do on trips home from college at UCLA to see my mom in Vancouver. I’d run an hour and a half to her work, see her, then run back home.

I have a funny story, actually. I ran with my Chihuahua, Boss, only once. He kept up for a minute and a half and then just stopped. I had to pick him up and carry him home! Chihuahuas are definitely not dogs that you bring on your jog.

Do you have any human running partners?

I like to run alone because I like to listen to my music.

What do you listen to?

It depends if we’re going for one of those runs where I pretend someone’s chasing me or if I’m just hanging out. If someone’s chasing me, I’m going to listen to hip-hop or something that pumps me up. If I get to go on a nice run where I get to gather my thoughts and I get to be by myself for a minute, I’ll listen to Kings of Leon or Lorde, who I love.

You were in ESPN’s “Body Issue.” Naked. Did running help prepare you for that?

Soccer and running helped me prepare for the photos in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue.” I was scared because we don’t have approval rights. They didn’t ask, “Hey do you like how your naked body looks in these pictures?” I saw it when everyone else saw it, which was a little shocking. But I was happy with how they turned out.

How do you fuel up before and after a run?

It depends if I’m hungry or not. I can’t run hungry. I can’t do anything hungry. I definitely have to make sure I have something in my system. I love apples and peanut butter. It’s my go-to. Maybe sometimes a smoothie. After a run I refuel with water.

How do you amp yourself up for a run?

To get up for a run, I blast music and think about other people out running, and I’m like, “Okay, I’m joining you.”

What’s the toughest thing about running?

The worst and best thing about running is pain. Some days are really hard and that’s a good lesson. The pain means you’ll be stronger tomorrow.

Could this lesson apply to your soccer aspirations, too?

Yeah. I think that you really have to want to go out and get it when you’re running. There are days where sometimes I just don’t feel like it. But you find that in you. Running is just like getting out of bed and being like, “Okay, I’m going to do this.” It’s the same for my future goals. It might be hard the next few years. But in 10 years, maybe I’ll have a World Cup or two Olympic gold medals.